Rising from a seated position and seating oneself are actions that require specific motor skills, stability, and a certain amount of muscle strength.
For people who do not possess these abilities and strengths, such as elderly persons, people with specific physical impairments, and people recovering from some surgeries, the seemingly simple task of getting out of a chair may be impossible without some assistance.
Available related art inflatable cushions, which provide support for rising from a chair, attempt to provide solutions to this problem. Illustrative of such attempts are U.S. Pat. No. 6,015,471, U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,329, U.S. Pat. No. 5,742,957, GB2287878, and GB229641, which each provides inflatable cushions for lifting assistance. However, such devices are not portable, they do not provide extra stability, and oftentimes these aids rely on the arm supports of a chair to stabilize the user.
The available aids are unstable, particularly on chairs that do not incorporate armrests and, furthermore, the available related art devices are rarely portable. There is a clear need for a portable device that lifts the user from a seated to a substantially standing position, which furthermore enables the user to stand of his own impetus, without additional support. Such a device should further provide the user with a stable seating area while said device is in use.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singularly or in combination, is seen to disclose such a device as will subsequently be described and claimed in the instant invention.